A Secret Kept
by HermioneJoanMalfoy
Summary: Hermione's daughter is cursed and she must confront the unknown father for help


There is a history for each person. Everywhere they look something connects them to their past. For celebrities this connection is only intensified; each person recognizes them and has something that they feel connects them to the celebrity.

For the Golden Trio this was true tenfold. They were the Saviors of the Wizarding World; everyone loved them. After the war every opportunity was offered them. Hermione took a job as the Secretary to the Minister of Magic, Harry became and auror, and Ron fulfilled his Quidditch dreams and became a Chudley Cannons Keeper.

For once Harry Potter was happy, he was dating a beautiful Ginny and relishing in the contentment of happy blissful love. Ron and Hermione had tried a relationship briefly after the war but had decided that sleeping with your best friend wasn't as great as the stories all said it was. They both had contented themselves in the times since casually dating a series of people.

Five years after the war they had achieved yet another level of happiness. At 22 Hermione became the youngest Minister of Magic ever and Harry the youngest head of the Auror department. Ron finally had the fame that was so elusive to him in the days of school; Witch Weekly named him Quidditch's sexist player.

The trio was as close as ever and the only hiccups in their relationship was the distance between them when Ron traveled for games. All was perfect until...........

"You're What!!!!!!!!!!!??????" screamed Harry, toppling the table as he jumped to his feet.

"I am pregnant Harry; pregnant and keeping my baby", replied a calm Hermione.

Dead silence ensued as both of her friends tried to let the news sink in, finally Harry was able to speak again.

"Who is the father?"

"I don't know, well I mean I know but he was a simple fling while I was in Paris, my contraceptive potion failed. I will be raising this baby on my own, I doubt that her father would want anything to do with her."

"No Hermione you will not raise this child on your own, Harry and I will help you. If I have to, no, no if you want me to I will quit the Cannons and marry you. I will stay home and care for this baby and you can stay Minister. We have plenty of money for that to work. I will raise this baby with you and love it everyday." announced Ron.

"Oh Ron!" screamed Hermione as she flung her arms around his neck, " I love you so much I couldn't possibly ask you to end your dream for me, it just wouldn't be fair. This is my mistake I must deal with the consequences. All I care about is still having your support"

"Mione, we may not be thrilled with the idea of it, but you will always; always have our support," said Harry.

And so went their lives, a circle of love and support. They were there for here when the media got wind of her pregnancy, fortunately the community was ready to forgive all the Golden Trio's transgressions.

Hermione had a fairly uneventful pregnancy; her first trimester was stylistically unpleasant but the healer she saw regularly assured her everything was going splendidly. The Wizarding world was kept hugely abreast of her every kick. There was huge speculation over the identity of the baby's father.

Rita Skeeter published a battle of fathers column which pitted prospective fathers against each other. Harry and Ron stormed her office to make her stop which she did, but not with out publishing one last article stating Hermione was looking for a father for her baby.

That was why Hermione was spending her Saturday surrounded by letters from men who wanted to be the father of her of baby.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Ron came running from the next room as he heard Hermione scream.

"What is wrong, is it the baby?"

"No, no Ron it is just these damn letters, they are just so stupid. Do I seem like the kind of woman who would just let some random man come into my home?"

"Well you let one into your bed."

Hermione slapped Ron full across the face, hard. "Is that what you really think? Well fine GET OUT NOW!"

"Mione, I am so sorry I didn't mean to say that, I don't think that. I am just jealous. I always saw us married and I know it wouldn't work but it was just the expectation for so long."

"Ron, Ron my water just broke! Get me to St. Mungos NOW!!.

The entire Weasley clan and Harry sat outside of Hermione's hospital room; with the exception of Ginny who was inside having her hand fairly squeezed off, Hermione maybe strong but giving birth was simply not fun. It would be the one moment in her daughter's life that she would have liked to simply have skipped altogether.

Thankfully for the suffering Hermione magical birth was marginally less painful then that of their poor muggle counterparts. It was, most assuredly, shorter. That was why three hours after Hermione went into labour she was ready to push. Fifteen minutes after that the cries of a healthy beautiful baby rang out into the room; a sound that Hermione would call the most beautiful sound in the world; her favorite by far.

The healer did a quick diagnostic spell, pronounced the baby healthy and then quickly spelled her clean, she then placed the precious bundle in Hermione's arms and stepped away to let Hermione bask in the euphoria of holding her baby daughter for the first time. The baby opened her tiny eyes and mother and daughter locked stares in a moment of quiet, perfect, serenity.

The Healer broke the silence, "Ms. Granger, your daughter is perfectly healthy; you now have two options, you can stay in the hospital overnight or I can perform a recovery charm upon you and send you and your baby home now. Which would you like?"

"I would love to go home now, thank you."

The healer preformed the series of recovery spells and Hermione could feel herself become more invigorated every moment.

"Now before I can officially release you I need to get this little baby's name registered, you can have your our naming ceremony as per your schedule but it is the law, so name please?" voiced the healer as she finished healing Hermione.

Laughing slightly Hermione replied, "Yes, my job requires me to be fully aware of the law. I would like to name her Carina Beatrice Rose."

"What a lovely name, also very powerful it combines the heavens, the soul and the earth; she will be magnificent."

It was then that Harry and Ron burst through the door "Can we see her then?", asked Harry.

"Yes, here she is, be careful please, she is very delicate."

"What is her name?" asked Mrs. Weasley, who had snuck in quietly behind the boys.

"Carina Beatrice Rose Granger."

"What a lovely name, the sky, the land and the soul so very powerful."

"What is this sky land soul thing that everyone keeps talking about?", asked Ginny.

"In the Wizarding community it is traditional to have a naming ceremony on the baby's one month birthday, these days they are merely formality; the baby's loved ones gather and have a party and at some point the godparents and the parents perform a spell that seals the baby's name to them. Through history the reason for this ceremony has largely been forgotten. It used to be a huge event that had much more ceremony tied to it. The ceremony was long and grand and more lasting and powerful than it is today. It was designed make their name more powerful than that of a muggles; it can now be tied into spells. It can be as powerful as blood magic, but not as dark as all blood magic has to have a modicum of dark magic tied to it. It was a way to leave your signature to a spell, the dark mark is a crude example of this. The spell to seal a baby's name to them was created by Merlin himself.

Different names have different strengths. Names that come from the sky; which are the constellations, the birds, and the gods make the person more in tune with their intellect. The stronger the bird, god, or constellation the smarter the witch or wizard. I picked Carina because it includes the second brightest star in the galaxy and one of the largest. It is a hugely powerful name; it means keel, which a part of a ship. This ties her to the sea as well. The connection to the sea gives her control over the elements. Not in a summon the sea to eat her enemies way; though if she really wished to she could. What it was intended for was to allow her to tie the power of the sea into her spells, she makes them 'swift as the sea, powerful as the wave, and a brilliant as the creatures within.'

Her first middle name, Beatrice, comes from Shakespeare and is the soul of her name. The soul name is important because it determines her character. It is to be drawn from the parents name, literature, or the parents can go into a period of deep meditation connect with their own souls and pull a name from there. That in and of itself is powerful magic and requires both parents so I couldn't do that one. I didn't particularly wish to give her my name, wishing her to be independent of me as much as she possibly could be. I picked literature because it ties her to the arts, allowing her to make spells of her own creation more powerful; and if I was going for literature why not pick the best writer of history; Shakespeare. Beatrice is a character in Much Ado About Nothing, she is strong, smart and stubborn; all of which will be transfered to Carina. Beatrice also means Happy, which will translate to her as well.

Her second middle name Rose, is the the land part of her name. Land names can come from flowers, trees, countries, or bodies of water; which would tie her to the sea. I knew I had already tied her to the sea with her first name so I avoided bodies of water. Land names are important because they are what grounds you, they are the under layer of you. They are present in all parts of you. I picked Rose mostly because it symbolizes love and devotion. I have so much love in my life and it means so much to me I never wish her to lack in love. It also symbolizes beauty, as if she needed it.

The order of the names is also important, it is not that the first name is more powerful then the other two, but the traits they represent will vary in importance to Carina due to their order. She will use her tie in to the sky and sea to help others, she will put doing what is right and helping others ahead of her own happiness, but that in turn will make her happy. She will love and be beautiful secretly, she will be fiercely loyal but not blatantly, because as the third name it is the subconcious; no one will ever doubt her love though.

I have planned the proper naming ceremony to put this name to full use for her and I hope that I can count on you all to be there with me to help." explained Hermione.

"Wow, that is quite the explanation, I didn't realize a name could mean that much." answered Ginny.

The healer rushed back into the room with Hermione's things, "Ok Ms. Granger, you are all set to leave now, be safe and floo us if you have any problems!"

Hermione got up from her bed and followed the healer to the floo, she took Carina in her arms and threw the powder into the grate. Stepping in she shouted, "Ashby Manor".

Ginny, Molly, Harry, and Ron followed on her heels. They fell into the floo room of Hermione's ancesteral home, from her muggle aunt. Hermione was already sweeping up the stairs to the room she had decorated for the baby in her arms. She entered the room, which looked more like a forrest clearing; complete with real grass flooring, trees, birds and flowers, and placed Carina Beatrice Rose in the bower crib that she had spelled to be the safest most comfortable crib ever in existence.

Molly and Ginny Weasley gasped as they stepped in the room; it was quite, quite splendid. "Oh, Hermione, you have outdone yourself, this is the most beautiful room I have ever seen!"

Hermione turned to her friends and embraced them, "I love you all dearly, but even with those revitilizing charms I am fairly knackered, I think I am going to sleep with Carina now, you are all welcome to go downstairs, have a drink and stay but I need a little rest."

With that she turned waved her wand and a bed rose out of the grass, lined in flowers and moss. She moved to it and laid herself upon it, she was asleep within minutes and her friends excused themselves from the room and down the stairs to her parlor where they sat to talk and wait for her to awake.


End file.
